Rewriting the Story
by GreysAddictJ
Summary: After the whole Africa mess, Callie makes a bold decision.  Will it work out?


Title: Rewriting the Story

Author: GreysAddictJ

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: Callie/Arizona, hints of Callie/Mark

Summary: Callie attempts to fix the whole Africa fiasco

Disclaimer: Characters are not mine. No infringement intended.

A/N: I'm new to this whole fanfic writing thing – hopefully you like it. This hasn't been beta-ed, all mistakes are mine.

Callie lay awake in Mark's bed, staring at the ceiling, attempting to forget what had just happened. She'd slept with Mark, hoping that he'd provide the kind of "sexual sorbet" that she'd thought she'd so desperately needed. That it would be a jump start she needed to help her begin to move on from Arizona. But how does one move on from their soul mate? One thing she knew for sure – Mark Sloan was not the answer. Their tryst had not helped her to forget Arizona. Rather, it had been a constant reminder of how different, how much better, how much more meaningful such an act could be with the woman she loved.

No. Mark Sloan was not the answer. That much Callie was sure of. How she proceeded from here was another matter. She'd tried putting on a brave face, she'd tried being angry, she'd tried to put herself out there and had hit on that redhead at the bar. Hell, she wasn't even that cute. What was wrong with her? Callie wondered to herself. She knew what was wrong, but she didn't see any way of solving her problem. She was alone. Someone she loved and whom she had thought had loved her in return had left her. Again. It was the story of her life. After continuing her internal debate for a few more minutes, Callie had a moment of clarity. She knew what she had to do.

Callie rose from the bed, grabbing her discarded clothes and quickly throwing them on. She proceeded to the living room and packed up some essentials into the nearest bag. A sleepy-eyed Mark appeared in his bedroom doorway.

"What the heck are you doing Torres? It's 3 in the morning." He asked.

"Oh, nothing, I've just something I need to take care of." She replied, continuing to stuff random clothes into a bag.

"Where are you going? The hospital? Did you get paged?" He asked, still confused by Callie's actions.

"No, not the hospital." She responded.

"Where then?" He inquired.

As Callie grabbed her bag and jacket and headed for the door, she called out an answer over her shoulder. "To Africa." And with that, she left the apartment.

"It's about time." Mark muttered under his breath with a smile.

_**Two Days Later**_

Arizona let out a long sigh as she rode in the jeep back to the clinic. It had been a long day out – she'd spent it visiting former patients in the neighboring village to make sure that they were healing well and that they were following her post-surgery instructions. She was beyond tired. The job was rewarding, no doubt, but she seemed to be in a constant state of exhaustion. While the long hours that she put in a that clinic contributed, she had to admit that there was another reason for her state of fatigue – Calliope. Or rather the lack of Calliope in her life. She spent more time than she'd have cared to admit thinking about her girlfriend, or rather her ex-girlfriend and the way that they'd parted ways. Too much time thinking about things might have been if she'd have pretended not to notice Callie's resistance to the whole Africa idea. If she'd just let her come along. With thoughts like these constantly running through her brain, sleep had been elusive. She spent most nights wondering, wishing, replaying their scene in the airport. She was spent. Emotionally and physically. And she didn't know what to do about it. There was only one solution and that solution was currently practicing medicine in Seattle, thousands of miles away.

As the jeep pulled to a stop, Arizona hopped out. She was immediately greeted by Claire, her assistant and a promising young surgeon who kept the clinic running while she was out in the field.

"Hey, Claire!" Arizona greeted her. "How have things been going today? Smoothly I hope?"

"They've been fine." Claire responded. "More than fine actually. You know that little boy with the club foot. We've finally gotten someone in here to operate on him."

Arizona looked confused. "What do you mean? I know the grant foundation was supposed to fly in that orthopedic surgeon from Germany in a few weeks, but . . . I don't get it. Did he arrive early?"

"Not exactly." Claire replied. "This is a different surgeon – she arrived unexpectedly and asked to be put to work immediately. Said something about wanting to do some volunteer work and to quote 'save tiny humans.' Funny phrase I think – I've never heard kids referred to as tiny humans before. Kind of cute."

The minute Arizona heard that phrase, she knew the exact identity of the mystery surgeon. Her heart stopped and her breath caught in her throat. Could she really be here? Even after the way they'd left things? After regaining her composure, Arizona made her way towards the makeshift operating room, and peeked through the window, her eyes quickly confirming her suspicions. There she was . . . her Calliope.

"Thanks Claire. Dr. Torres and I are actually . . .old friends." Arizona said after debating how much of their relationship to reveal. "Please have her stop by my office when she's finished.

"Will do, Dr. R." Claire responded, wondering at the cause of Arizona's stricken look. Clearly Dr. Torres was more than an old friend to her boss.

Arizona used the time that Callie was in surgery to gather her thoughts. How did she handle this? Just because Callie had shown up didn't mean that everything was suddenly fixed. It didn't change anything. Despite this fact, Arizona couldn't suppress the feelings of relief and joy, knowing that they were, even if just for now, on the same continent again. A knock on the door broke Arizona out of her thoughts. As she looked up, she saw the love of her life leaning against the doorframe, still wearing her scrubs and scrub cap, giving her a small, insecure smile.

"Hey." Callie said simply.

"What are you doing here?" Arizona asked, instantly regretting the slightly harsh tone she had used.

"I decided that you don't get to decide." She replied.

"What?" Arizona asked, confused by her ex's response.

"You don't get to decide. I love you and I know you love me. So despite what you said in the airport, you do not get to leave me, standing alone in an airport. Just because I gave you my heart doesn't mean you get to decide what to do with it. You decided what would make me happiest – but guess what? You decided wrong. So no, your decision making powers have been revoked. "

"What if I don't want to be with you anymore?" Arizona responded. "You weren't exactly a basket full of puppies and rainbows our last few weeks together." Arizona wasn't sure why she was putting up such a fight, knowing that both she and Callie knew how she really felt. However, she felt that she needed to make sure this wasn't another of Callie's rash decisions.

"You and I both know that's not true." Callie said, trying to hide the slight doubt that was suddenly creeping into her heart. "So I'm here. And one of two things is going to happen. 1. I am staying here and we are going to make this work. And I will make Africa work. Or 2. You are coming back to Seattle and we are going to make this work."

"You seem pretty sure of yourself." Arizona responded with a smirk, knowing that beneath Callie's bravado, she was the same bundle of nerves and emotions that she herself was feeling. "How does this change anything? We're still stuck in an impossible situation. One of us will be giving up too much."

"That's not true. You're thinking only in terms of career." Callie replied. "I knew the minute that you walked away from me in that airport that I, at least, would be giving up way more by staying in Seattle. I may not have been that enthusiastic about Malawi and about leaving Seattle, but I quickly learned that I didn't like Seattle so much without you in it."

"And I learned that my dream in Africa wasn't such a fairytale without you to share it with." Arizona admitted.

"So we'll figure this out." Callie said matter of factly, crossing the room to draw the blonde into her arms, kissing her with all the pent up emotion that she'd been suppressing for the past month.

Finally pulling away for air, Arizona reached up and removed Callie's scrub cap, wanting to run her hands through the latina's long locks. She was taken aback, however, when she saw the woman's new haircut.

"You cut your hair." Arizona said with a smile.

"Yeah, I wasn't exactly in a good place when you left. I made a lot of poor decisions, one of which was letting Cristina Yang near my head with a pair of scissors. Thank God my hairdresser was able to fix the damage."

"You let Cristina cut your hair!" Arizona replied in disbelief. "Remind me never to leave you again. Clearly you can't be trusted on your own."

"Hey!" Callie exclaimed. "No making fun of me and my hair. It's all your fault after all."

"First of all, it's not all my fault." Arizona smirked, "And secondly, your hair. . .is . . .hot." She added, emphasizing each word with a kiss, while running her hair through the brunette's shorter locks. "But we should take this discussion back to my living quarters, which is decidedly more private and has a lock. They don't really look highly on same-sex couples here. We'll have to be discreet." Arizona pulled her in for one more quick kiss.

Callie pulled away, wanting to get everything out in the open immediately. "Arizona. There's one more bad decision I need to tell you about now, before anything else."

"What?" Arizona asked nervously.

Callie hesitated, not knowing exactly how to broach the subject.

"What is it Calliope. You know you can tell me anything." Arizona urged. "One of the things that caused our breakup was a lack of communication on both of our parts. So, whatever it is, just tell me. No matter how bad it is, we'll work it out."

"I slept with Mark." Callie blurted out.

"What!" Arizona responded angrily. This was not what she had expected. However, she should have. This confirmed what she'd always worried about – that they still had feelings for one another.

"It's not what you think." Callie tried to explain.

"How is it not what I think?" Arizona asked bitterly. "Either you slept with him or you didn't."

"You have to understand. I was broken. I was doing everything in my power to move on. I thought that maybe if I slept with someone, it would be like a palette cleanser. That it would help me move on. And he was there, he was easy, he was familiar. But I hated every minute of it. It did not help me move on. It just reminded me of what I was missing. I am so sorry Arizona. But you have to understand that I was not in a good place. And not making good decisions."

"I don't know what to say." Arizona responded. "Of all the people in the world, you had to pick Mark. That's worse than if you'd just picked up some random person at a bar. I don't know how I get over this. I'm going to ask Claire to arrange for a place for you to stay until you can catch a flight back home."

Arizona rose and brushed past Callie to the door. Callie reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks. "No. You don't get to do this again. I am willing to wait, let you stew over this, let you figure this out. But I'm not going anywhere. So you're going to have to deal with that." With that, she let Arizona go.

The next few weeks were awkward to say the least. Arizona avoided Callie and a tense silence had settled over them. Callie had made a few attempts to talk to Arizona, but had wisely decided to give her some space, to let her have time to wrap her head around Callie's admission.

Claire knew something was up. Ever since Dr. Torres' arrival, Dr. Robbins had been a different person. On the one hand, the sadness that had emanated from her boss had subsided, but instead, seemed to have been replaced by a quiet rage. And of course, she'd noticed that the two doctors only spoke when medically necessary. Still, Claire couldn't help but notice the longing glances that both gave each other when they thought no one was looking.

Claire entered Arizona's office to deliver some charts, when she noticed the older surgeon silently weeping at her desk. Closing the door behind her, Claire crossed the room and put a comforting hand on her boss's shoulder. Dr. Robbins, I know that we've only known each other a month, but if there's anything you want to talk about. . ."

"Oh, I'm fine." Arizona lied. "Just missing home is all."

"Dr. Robbins. It would take a blind man not to notice what's really going on here." Claire responded kindly. "Dr. Torres isn't just your old friend, is she? And you two had some sort of falling out?"

"She's the love of my life." Arizona admitted, not knowing why she felt the need to bare her rawest emotions to the young surgeon. "But it's complicated."

"She's here isn't she?" Claire responded. "It can't be that complicated. If you want to, tell me the whole story. Maybe having a neutral outsider's opinion could give you some perspective."

After spilling out the details of their whole long, convoluted history – the bar kiss, Callie's newborn status, their fight over babies, the shooting, their airport breakup, and Callie's tryst with Mark, Arizona felt a small sense of relief. It was good to have someone to talk to. Especially since she wasn't talking to the one person she really wanted to be talking to.

"So you feel betrayed because Dr. Torres slept with her best friend – the person you feared most that she'd leave you for?" Claire asked.

Arizona nodded.

"I can definitely understand that feeling." Claire said. "But, I think there are a few things you're forgetting."

"What?" Arizona asked.

"First. It seems to me that she's not going to choose him over you. Ever." Claire said.

"And how can you know that?" Arizona questioned.

"Because she's here with you." Claire said matter of factly. "You gave her a clean break. If she'd really wanted to be with him, she'd still be back in the United States with him right now. She told you about it. She wanted you to know that she'd made a horrible mistake. If she'd wanted to be with him, she wouldn't have told you about it and she certainly wouldn't have followed you halfway across the world in an attempt to win you back. I'm not excusing her conduct, but people do stupid things when they're heartbroken. And that's what this sounds like."

"Then why do I feel so betrayed?" Arizona asked.

"I'm not saying you shouldn't." Claire responded. "This Mark is clearly a sore spot for you. But the other thing you have to remember is that it's not really your place to feel betrayed. You left her, for what she thought was forever. She was trying, albeit in a misguided way, to move on."

Arizona nodded, Claire's advice hitting home.

"So the question you have to ask yourself is whether or not you want this to break you. Or whether your relationship is worth more than the hurt you're feeling."

"Thanks for the advice, Claire. I really appreciate it."

"Any time, Dr. Robbins." Claire responded, rising to leave.

"I think after all that, you deserve to call me Arizona." The blonde responded with a smile.

After mulling over Claire's words for a few minutes, Arizona went to find Callie. She knew now what she had to do.

Finding Callie lying on her bed, staring listlessly at the ceiling, Arizona crossed the room and took a seat beside her. Taking Callie's hand in hers, Arizona struggled to begin what she had to say.

Callie sat up, gently caressed Arizona's cheek and urged her to speak. "Just say it. Whatever you need to say, I can take it. I know you're angry and I deserve whatever it is you want to say. I'm so sorry about all of this."

Arizona shook her head. "No. It's me that needs to apologize to you. I was. . .am hurt about the whole Mark thing. But I realize now that I have no right to blame you. I left you, never to be seen again. I can't have expected you to sit around waiting, pining for me, when I told you I was leaving for you for good."

Callie interrupted. "But I was waiting and pining. I just wasn't doing a very good job of dealing with those feelings."

"I know." Arizona responded. "And despite all of this, I do trust you. I trust you with Mark. The fact that you were upfront with me. The fact that you're here, waiting for me, instead of with him back in Seattle proves to me that he's no threat. I'm just so sorry I had to hurt you like that."

"I wasn't the only one hurting – we both know that." Callie responded.

"True. But I still feel responsible. I chose my career over you. I chose my commitment to this program over my commitment to you. And that wasn't fair. You've always been willing to put me first. You'd have given up babies for me. Your family. Your career. And I resisted giving up the same for you. So for that, I'm sorry, Calliope."

"Where does this leave us?" Callie asked. "It may not be my dream, but I will stay here for you. I know how important this work is to you. And my life isn't worth living without you in it. Career or no career."

Arizona shook her head. "No, I will not let you give up everything for me again."

Callie's heart stopped, bracing herself for another discussion much like the one they'd had in the airport.

"I'm coming home. To Seattle. To you. And I'm never leaving you again." Arizona continued.

"What about your work here? I can't let you give that up?" Callie replied.

"Before you'd even arrived, I'd already put the wheels in motion. Arranged for the Carter-Madison committee to replace me with another surgeon. The work will go on without me. I can't go on without you." Arizona paused, choosing her words carefully. "As I told you once before, I love you so much and can't live without you."

"And our ten kids?" Callie asked jokingly with a smile.

"And our ten kids." Arizona agreed. "But there's something that generally comes before the kids. Calliope Iphigenia Torres, will you marry me?"

"Of course I will!" Callie responded, pulling Arizona into a passionate embrace.

Both women silently thanked their lucky stars. Despite all of the curveballs that fate had thrown them, they were finally on the same page. They were going to rewrite this story. And it would have a happy ending this time.


End file.
